New Bunny…Need some help please

[Arsenic army]

Hey just urchased a holland lopped ear bunny. He’s adorable but i have no clue on what to do for exercise. Here are some questions i have:

How long should i let him out for during the day?

He is peeing when he comes out, but pees in his box when he’s in his home…why is this??

Will nuertering help or stop him peeing everywhere?

And how much should i feed him furing a day?

And last but not least….does lots of attention help their personality?

I really need some help here with him his name is smokey and he is in his teenager stage.

[BinkyBunny]

WELCOME ARSENIC ARMY.    Now that is an unsual user name!

Congratulations on your new bunny.  

How long out during the day:   Bunnies need about a minimum of three hours a day out and about. HOWEVER when you first bring a bunny home, you should not give too much freedom right away other wise he wlll try to establish the whole place as his.  Which is what is happening.  He is marking his territory.  Now, the only thing is, that even with training, some…eh…most bunnies who are not altered, will still be driven to mark.    So yes nuetering usually help with this.  Though it can take one to two months after surgery for the hormones that drive him to mark to die down.  The other thing is that their urine becomes much less pungent after being neutered. 

For now since he should have some exercise but not have the run of your house, I am a big fan of xpens!  They are a great way to offer exercise while training.

Feeding:  How old is your bunny?  There are guidelines to follow depending on age.  I follow the House Rabbit Society Guidelines.  http://rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

Attention:  Yes, offer lots of love and attention. But if you just got him, you may want to just give him a couple of days to settle in. Don’t overwhelm him.  It’s stressful for a prey animal to be in a new place, so you may just want to back off for the first couple of days.  Each bunny is different, so just try to be aware of his demeanor and if he is looking for attention, or needs to be in peace off in a corner for a bit.

  Is he a shy bunny or affectionate already? If he’s shy, you may need to be patient and go slow.  I just posted to someone about how to bond with their shy bunny.  https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/forumid/3/postid/2135/view/topic/Default.aspx

Keep us updated!

 

[Arsenic army]

Hey BINKYbunny thanks for some help and thanks on the name.

Okay so i have had him for about 9 days now, and i’ll admit i did hold him and biut too much and give him too much freedom….so your saying the only thing i can do now is just nueter him? and hope that it will all stop?

I am starting to get frusterated with him and don’t even know if i want him still, i love the little dude to bits , but the peeing just isn’t acceptable.

[BinkyBunny]

AWWW, well, I completely understand the frustration.   This teenager stage is the most frustrating, and many times stores don’t give the full facts and what to truly expect.  So unknowing customers end up in despair.   Who wants to have the house peed up.  But most animals, unless they have been trained before, make you go through some growing pains of training etc, and rabbits are no exception.   It’s such a crazy myth that rabbits are easy.   So I encourage you to stick it out, and train AND neuter so you’ll have a better chance at success. 

Puppies can chew up the place,  cats can spray, parrots can wake you you up very early, and rabbits have their own annoyance factor.   But like with most animals, time and patience with training can pay off, and animals that have been neutered, tend to mark less, so I think that you can keep your bunny and be happy if start training him now, even if you still plan on neutering him.  (highly recommended)

So, start limiting his freedom, and allow more freedom as he "gets it".  You can help him understand where to go by placing pee soaked paper towel and some of his poop in the litterbox.  You may even have to get more than one, depending on the space.     Also, during his exercise time out in a smaller confined area – like an xpen, put a covering on the floor, and then just watch him carefully, and every time he goes to lift his tail, scoot him to the litterbox.  Note:  Some bunnies get this in days, others in weeks.   So don’t expect it to happen overnight.

Check out litter training  in the Bunny Info Section.

Then, search around for a good rabbit savvy vet so you can schedule neutering if need be.

So Arsenic Army, I can imagine this must be frustrating if you no one told you what to expect and how to train, etc.   But I hope you do stick it out as this is the time of the bunnies life that most people give their bunny up and that’s why they rescues and shelters are so overcrowded.

IF you do decide that it is too much, I encourage you to try and find someone who will take Smokey in and then direct them to this website to learn.  Otherwise, Smokey could be at risk of euthanasia if he’s turned into a shelter.

Keep us updated and I wish you the best.  And believe me, many of us here have been highly frustrated and upset. But that’s why I started this site and this forum.   You are not alone in feeling like you want to give your bunny up.  But it can get better.   So try and hang in there!  

Sending Peace vibes your way!

[Gravehearted]

the other thing that is also likely making it a bit worse as that bunnies tend to mark a lot in a new place and if he’s only been there 9 days – the house certainly qualifies as new territory. I would echo BinkyBunny’s recommendation to limit his roaming territory, increase his litter boxes in the area – and then once he’s really good about only using the box – you can very slowly increase his space over time.

don’t dispair, it does take some time and bunnies are one of the most delightful and engaging animals to live with.

[Arsenic army]

Hey well first thing i can say to you all is THANK YOU. I would just like to say my mom has a cattery, we preed Pure bred Himilayans and persians. So i have been through this process before. What we have done was taken one of the cattery cages cleaned it completely and put Shadow into (didn’t like smokey..renamed him..that’s his final name). So it is a much smaller space and were gunna put him into his little home at night time so he can sleep in there, then during day when i wake up put him in his little pen. He is using the litterbox nicley..he is also on monolium (how ever you spell it ). Theres a little bed in there and i walked by and he was vegging out all sprawled out and i sat there looked at him and said no way i could give him up, i bought him because he had no family, he’s my little buddy. But this pen seems to be working really well for him. And binkybunny, he seems to be a shy and affcinate buddy..should i follow the shy techniqu and go in there ignore him for a week just se he can get used to everything..i think i am going to.

I thank you so much for having this forums and website it hashelped meout so much and i am defintly going to be on here all the time learning new things.

i have put an attachment of him on here.

 

Enjoy.

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[Lucy]

Hi Arsenic Army! Binky Bunny emailed me and asked to post here. So…

I (and my boyfriend) have a dutch dwarf and his name is Fujoe. We obtained Fujoe through a woman on craigslist. He was in his teens also, and unneutured. I didn’t have the peeing problem like you, but I had a HUGE aggression problem. He would just attack. I would be petting him and he would lunge. Not only that but he destroyed everything. Our baseboards are ruined— we finally had to staple cardboard to them.

If you go to Behavior and look up the forum, “paint, plaster, oil based clay…?” you can read all of the stuff I went through with Fujoe. I was close to giving him up, i would get home and just cry. We got him fixed, and I thought it would get better quick- but it didn’t. It took like 2 months- the vet had told us to expect it. But after all of the testosterone was out of his system, we has been soooo much better! He’s still tries to go after the baseboards, but there is no more random attacks… i think I started a forum about that too, called “random attacks”… anyway, he’s great now, but it took like 3 or 4 months of frustration. I don’t know where I would be without Fujoe. He makes me so happy with his little binkies!

But i agree with Binky Bunny, keep at it. It might take some time, but it’ll all work out in the end. Fujoe’s pee was sooooo strong before he was fixed, and now I can barely smell it… Simple green might help to take the smell out of the carpet. Also, I agree with Binky about keeping the bunny in a small area. I had to do that with Fujoe where the biting and chewing got really bad, but I knew it was for his own good. It was something like 3 days without running around. I then let him out and when I saw him go after the baseboards or be aggressive I said “no!” and put him back in for the rest of the day. I think it worked. Maybe you should do the same with your bunny. Now, Fujoe usally has full roam of the living room and dining room when we’re gone— and the apartment is in one piece when we get back! Good luck, and let us know how it all works out!

[Arsenic army]

Hey thank you for all your support…trust me i will not give up on this little guy he’s just too dam cute and cuddly too.Like i said above i have ut him into one of our cattery pens and he seems to be doing really well. I am gunna start the what i call shy bunny technique… https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/forumid/3/postid/2135/view/topic/Default.aspx . …the one that binky bunny has posted and told me about. I will have patience and keep up with this little guy…..it’s all a big learning process and so far it’s been aight.

[Anita Stark]

Hey Arsenic Army, Shadow is adorable!!  Glad to see that someone already posted the best advice I could have given, that is to confine him and gradually expand his territory.  That’s what worked with our little angel.  We built him a play pen and kept him in there giving him limited freedom in short outings until his habits improved.  Lucky for us he hasn’t peed outside his litterbox since a couple of days after we got him, but he did poop alot.  After a couple of weeks his litterbox habits were impeccable.

Lately, we were shocked (okay we shouldn’t have been because we got lots of warning here) when he started pooping all over the place again.  One night I stood up from the couch where I’d been lying watching tv while Sable crawled all over me and I heard the unmistakable plinking of poo pellets on the hardwood.. he had left a big pile of poop on me!! 

Like you I’m hoping that neutering will put an end to this territorial behaviour, his surgery is this Thursday.  Until then, it’s back to confining him except for brief outings which usually end with me picking up a pellet trail after depositing him back in his play pen.

They are lucky that they’re so adorable aren’t they?  Hang in there, I’m sure it will be worth it.  This website is the best!!

[Arsenic army]

Hey and holy smokes have i ever noticed a difference in Shadow since i put him in the pen….no more peeing where ever he wants and yeah he does the poop thing too little rascals……i don’t know if this is breaking the rules or anything but i gotta ask you if you have msn messenger or aim……i’d like to chat with you and ask you some questions if that’ be alright.

[Gravehearted]

I’m really glad to hear that confining Shadow’s territory made such a huge difference. 🙂 you can increase the litterboxes as well to help with the poops. it of course will improve further once you have him neutered.

[Anita Stark]

I have msn, the address is in my profile.

Given that I’m in Ontario you’re probably about 3 hours behind?  That means I would usually be online between 4 and 6 pm your time.  (7-9 here)

 

[Arsenic army]

Hey everyone man i have found a great big difference in Shadow..

last night i took him out and went and let him sleep on me i put him tos leep rubbing his face it was pretty cute and funny…then i moved chairs with him and put him onto the acual couch but he moved onto my body right away i said weird then did it again and same response so i think he’s starting to trust me…also when i go into his pen he stays there and starts to move towards me but stops so definate progress in him and can’t wait for neuterization ( sorry i can’t spell that word )

thanks to alot of people for the help and encouragement…feel like ragging the pet stores out for such little information.

[Anita Stark]

Glad you’re getting on so well.  I know what you mean about the pet stores but we were lucky and the woman in SuperPet was very helpful, at least enough to get us going .. then I found this website and it’s been great.

[BinkyBunny]

Sounds like he’s coming out of his shell.   During this teenage stage, his hormones are going crazy, and he may get eh hem…a little too friendly, and you may need to get him a stuffed toy animal until he’s neutered.    

[Author]

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